About a quarter of hospitals were in breach of the waiting-time target for endoscopy tests that could diagnose bowel cancer every month last year, a charity has warned.

Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer said waiting-time figures released by NHS England highlight the “scale of the endoscopy crisis” and are further evidence that demand for diagnostic tests is outstripping capacity.

Every month last year almost 2,900 patients on average had to wait longer than six weeks for endoscopy tests at their local hospital in England while an average of more than 2,300 patients with suspected cancer had to wait longer than two weeks for an urgent referral.

Overall in 2017, 26% of hospitals were in breach of the six-week waiting time target for endoscopy tests.

The charity said a lack of funding, staff shortages and not enough resources were all part of the problem.

“Many hospitals are at breaking point because they simply do not have the capacity to meet growing demand,” it warned.

Deborah Alsina, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “We know that screening is the best way to detect bowel cancer at the earliest stage when it gives us the greatest chance of survival.

“That’s why the possibility of a delay to implementing this life-saving test is simply unacceptable.

“The benefits of FIT are well-established – it can detect twice as many cancers and four times as many advanced adenomas than the current screening test.

“As such, it has a vital role to play in improving survival rates for the UK’s second biggest cancer killer. But the NHS must be given the resource to make this a reality.”